13 March 2011
A late point from a Neill McManus free earned Antrim a hard earned victory over Carlow in Sunday’s Allianz National Hurling League Division 2 clash at a very wet Casement Park.
When the record books are written about great games of 2011 this match will not be among them as the first half was a shade worse than poor, and that is putting it mildly. Admittedly conditions were terrible, and a constant downpour made good hurling almost impossible, but even taking this into consideration the handful of paying customers got poor value for money.
Carlow missed a couple of easy chances for scores in the opening minutes before Darren Hamill eventually broke the scoring duck with a well taken point from play to put Antrim a point ahead in the tenth minute. It was to be a further seventeen minutes until an Antrim player troubled the scoreboard operator again while in the meantime the visitors went 1-2 to 0-1 ahead, the goal coming from a long range free by centre-back Dwain Kavanagh which skidded off Ciaran Herron’s hand into the net.
Neill McManus finally got the Antrim scoring going again when he pointed a free in the twenty-seventh minute, and though Carlow hit back with a similar effort from Paudie Keogh, another McManus point from a free, and a fine effort from play by Simon McCrory left the Saffrons just a goal behind at the break (0-4 to 1-4).
Conditions improved considerably at the start of the second-half as the rain relented, and it was reflected in Antrim’s play as they got away to a flyer. Mickey Herron and second-half substitute Karl Stewart sent over excellent scores from play to cut the arrears to a single point and it appeared that Antrim were on course to take over.
However that never happened as Carlow replied with a fine score from midfielder Jack Kavanagh to put two between the sides again, and though Simon McCrory closed the gap again, substitute HP O’Byrne once again gave the visitors a two point cushion.
That was to be their last score however , even though there was still twenty-three minutes left to play, but Antrim weren’t exactly prolific either and it was Neill McManus who eventually got his side over the line.
McManus cut it back to one in the fifty-third minute when he pointed a free from forty metres, and after missing what looked a simple effort from a similar distance soon afterwards the Antrim fans must have felt it was going to be another of ‘those’ days. It wasn’t until five minutes from time that he eventually brought the sides level, this time from play after his free from fifty metres had come back off the upright.
The score which eventually sealed the win came just two minutes from time, again from a McManus free, but the man who created the score was Paul ‘Shorty’ Shiels who came on as a second-half substitute following a long time out through injury. Shiels seemed well set to score himself when he caught a neat pass from Darren Hamill and broke clear, but as the Dunloy man bore down on goal he was rugby tackled by Carlow full-back Shane Kavanagh and McManus gleefully accepted the gift to send over the winner.
Not a game that will live long in the memory, but it was a very important win nonetheless. The real positives from the game were the return of Shiels, fine displays by new goalkeeper Sean Hayes, debutant Kevin Molly, stand in full-back Stephen Shannon, Neill McManus, Karl Stewart and Simon McCrory. It may not have been impressive overall, but a win lifts spirits like nothing else and puts everyone in a better frame of mind for a tricky away game against Ulster rivals Down in two weeks time.
ANTRIM – Sean Hawes, Kiearn McGourty, Stephen Shannon, Kevin Molloy, Neill McAuley, Johnny Campbell, Ciaran Herron, Kevin McKeague, Michael Herron, Neill McManus, Thomas McCann, Simon McCrory, Darren Hamill, Shane McNaughton, PJ O’Connell.
SUBS – James McCouaig for McAuley; Paul Shiels for Campbell; Barry McFall for McNaughton; Conor Carson for O’Connell.
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